KIRKUS REVIEW

A jeremiad suggesting our addiction
to data may have made privacy obsolete.

Prolific technological writer
Schneier (Fellow/Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School; Carry
On: Sound Advice from Schneier on Security, 2013, etc.) clearly
examines how technology has transformed every interaction, noting how our
intimate communications are now "saved in ways we have no control
over." He suggests that most Americans remain unconcerned about the
relationship between data and surveillance, due to the attraction of “free”
products like Gmail. He focuses on the social costs of surveillance, which
"puts us at risk of abuses by those in power…exacerbated by the fact that
we are generating so much data and storing it indefinitely.” He also argues
that this "pervasive mass surveillance" will inevitably chill progressive
movements—e.g., gay rights and cannabis decriminalization. The problem is more
sprawling than most realize: Edward Snowden's revelations clarified "how
much the NSA relies on US corporations to eavesdrop on the Internet,” and
corporations are using such technologies for their own ends. Yet both the NSA
and corporations are blithe about how they treat the fruits of this nonstop
spying. “From the military’s perspective,” writes the author, “it’s not
surveillance until a human being looks at the data.” Such strange
pronouncements about the common good are hard to counter, since whistleblowers
such as Snowden are prohibited from explaining their actions in court. Schneier
argues that all this invasion of privacy is unlikely to succeed in its alleged
goal: “Even highly accurate terrorism prediction systems will be so flooded
with false alarms that they will be useless.” He concludes this grim catalog of
privacy erosion with a set of prescriptions for governments, corporations and
“the rest of us,” advocating a mix of legal framework, incentives for fairer
business models and a more realistic understanding of the current moment’s
potential for harm.

An accessible, detailed look at a
disturbing aspect of contemporary life.

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